The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) has carried out separate operations into suspected criminals in Limerick and Cork who have a reach into other counties in the south of Ireland.
In Limerick, Cab officers moved against a man who it believes is effectively operating without licence in the security industry and has also been extorting companies to secure security and construction contracts.
News that the bureau is focussed on the suspected Limerick-based extortionist comes just over a week after two criminals from Ballyfermot in Dublin were exposed by Cab after they extorted more than €550,000 from contractors working on Dublin City Council social housing schemes.
The man at the centre of the Limerick operation has previously been threatened by the city’s McCarthy-Dundon organised crime gang. He has been closely associated with dissident republicans and was also suspected of involvement in an extremely violent assault in which the victim was tortured.
Cab raided nine premises - four residential properties, a business premises, a motor dealership, an accountant's office and an architects office - in Limerick, Cork and Waterford in a move against the suspect Thursday. The Limerick Armed Support Unit also supported Cab personnel during the raids.
The information about the man’s wealth, and how it is alleged he generates income through crime, initially came to Cab from Limerick-based Garda asset profilers.
A Rolex watch was seized along with electronic devices containing data and paper-based financial and business records. An Audi Q7 SUV was also seized.
The records seized will be analysed by Cab before the next phase of the inquiry, aimed at confiscating the proceeds of crime, is advanced.
Cork raid
In a separate and unrelated operation against an organised crime gang based in Cork, Cab raided three car dealerships, a jewellers shop and an insurance broker Thursday. The raid was part of its ongoing investigation into a crime gang based on the outskirts of Cork city.
Forty Cab officers from Dublin, backed up by some 60 local detective units in Cork and armed members of the Regional Support Unit, in April raided nine premises in the city and surrounding areas.
Cab officers seized 10 vehicles, four Rolex Watches and €31,500 in cash in those raids, which included a search of a property valued at more than €2.5 million in the Whites Cross area just north of the city.
They also seized computers and mobile phones in raids on gang members’ homes and documentation from a firm of solicitors and a firm of accountants used by the gang to file tax returns.
Cab officers carried out a series of follow-up raids on Wednesday and Thursday when they searched and seized documentation from three car dealerships relating to the 10 vehicles confiscated in April.
The organised crime gang, which travels around the country carrying out construction work, is suspected of theft and deception by ordering building supplies on credit and then refusing to pay for them.
They are also suspected of involvement in a spate of burglaries as well as extorting money from vulnerable elderly people whom they pressurise into getting them to do construction jobs.
